Anchor Mill in Paisley, near Glasgow, has long been in the background of my life. I remember it from the pre-motorway days of the 1960s when our family drove past it every summer on… Read more The Great Tapestry of Scotland →
Our final walk was to the north, and encompassed some of the prettiest, and quietest, canals we had seen. The main sight of the first section was Sint Jakobskerk. I particularly liked the two-tier tomb of Ferry De Gros who died in 1544. If you click on the photo, you can just about make out that there are two sets of praying hands on the top section. That’s De Gros with his first wife, who died in 1521, behind him. Underneath lies his second wife who died in 1530. De Gros… Read more North Bruges →
Our next Bruges walk took us south-west from Markt through the main shopping area. I confess that we stopped at The Chocolate Line in Simon Stevinplein but, other than that, we… Read more South West Bruges →
Our next walk took us away from the centre to the quieter north-east. There were a couple of museums en route which we knew would be closed, because it was… Read more North East Bruges →
Markt The first route we followed from our guidebook was Highlights of Bruges which took you to all the main sights. We walked it all, but went into very few buildings –… Read more Highlights of Bruges →
We had a wonderful time in Bruges at the end of March / beginning of April. In April, I was too busy with the A to Z Challenge to blog… Read more In Bruges →
A weekend with friends in a cottage in the North York Moors National Park? Perfect! Glaisdale is a pretty village, built on a steep valley descending to the River Esk. Our cottage,… Read more Glaisdale and Whitby: a visit to the North York Moors →
So how was the A to Z Challenge for me? I think it worked pretty well as I’ve managed to write 26 posts covering 13 different countries. I explained… Read more Reflections – #AtoZchallenge →
The windmills of Zaanse Schans, just outside Amsterdam.
Yorktown is the final point in Virginia’s Historic Triangle. (See also J is for Jamestown and W is for Williamsburg.) Although the 13 American colonies had declared their independence in 1776,… Read more Y is for Yorktown →
Xian (pronounced She-an) was part of my first trip to mainland China in April 2003. Visiting the Terracotta Warriors was undoubtedly the highlight – thousands of them marching towards you,… Read more X is for Xian →
Look at the beautiful building above. Can you imagine that Kinneil House was almost torn down in the 1930s? For centuries, it belonged to the Dukes of Hamilton, but when it was sold to the local council they started on this dreadful act of vandalism. Fortunately, they had the sense to stop when they discovered under the plasterwork some impressive Renaissance wall paintings, said to be the best in Scotland if not the UK. Today, the house is managed by Historic Scotland which, along with the Friends of Kinneil, organises… Read more Kinneil and Bo’ness →
The Glasgow Gallivanter 